Customers can get these prices on any of the three models when they sign up for an Xbox Live Gold account for two years

Just in time for the holiday season, Microsoft is broadening its subsidized Xbox offer to two new models and possibly more stores.

According to a new report from The Verge, Microsoft is adding two new models to its subsidized Xbox offer: a 250GB Xbox 350 for $99 and a 250GB Xbox 360 with Kinect for $149. These are in addition to the original option, which is a 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect for $99.

Customers can get these prices on any of the three models when they sign up for an Xbox Live Gold account for two years. The membership is $14.99 per month.

Microsoft originally offered the $99 4GB Xbox with Kinect at 16 Microsoft stores, but this could soon change as a new note on a holding page says, "check back later to see a full list of participating retailers."

Last week, three other Xbox 360 holiday bundles were announced. This included a 250GB Xbox 360 with "Skyrim" and "Forza 4 Essentials Edition" with one month of Xbox Live Gold for $299.99; 250GB Xbox 360 with Kinect, "Dance Central 2," "Kinect Sports," "Kinect Adventures," and one month of Xbox Live Gold for $399.99, and a 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect, "Kinect Disneyland Adventures," "Kinect Adventures" and one month of Xbox Live Gold for $299.99.

Then they think they can fool you by making everything in he game shiny and very detail lacking. Not fooling me. Even PC games now, (I know the PC game market isn't very good anymore), have some pretty good graphics.

Bringing out "the new consoles" isn't going to fix anything. And the PC market isn't flailing for lack of hardware.

The bottom line is, you did this. Every one of you fanbois who swear on a stack of bibles that your beloved ps3/360 is so much better than everything else. You have accepted watered-down stock. You have told the game developers with your spending that you really don't want them to invest the time/expense in producing truly high-quality gaming, because you're willing to pay $60 for another COD game with some virtual paint thrown on it.

PC gamers like me have been shouting it for years. You just didn't listen. You were too busy railing against nintendo's choice to opt for substance over flash. Laptops have reached virtual parity in gaming performance at 1080p with desktops--thanks to this stagnation. Bleeding-edge PC hardware isn't being sold in the numbers it has previously, and the result has pushed up the cost of "bleeding edge".

This translates in 1 of 2 ways. Either you're going to pay a LOT more for your next console--because the PC enthusiasts haven't attritted the cost of the hardware down due to a dearth of gaming quality. Or 2, you're going to pay about the same for your next console, and you're going to bitch that it doesn't have the hardware you think it should--even though it's not going to need anything more than a pathetic 1080p output.

I got into arguments with someone last year about most of the points you have I said to him that gears of war 1 looks better on the pc than gears of war 3 on 360 he was like ah no way you are crazy then I showed it to him on my pc he shut up pretty quick. Its been a sad few years in gaming graphics.

Yup, since Doom and all through the '90s, screaming like imbecile hyneas for MOOOOOOARR GRAPHICS, and the companies delivered and, while we got some awesome games, we also got over-hyped, over-produced drek like Daikatana and stupid delays for Duke Nukem. Thank you so much for tanking the PC gaming industry, you loud-mouthed jackass. Maybe you should shut your virtual noise-hole once in a while, if two and a half decades of "shouting it" has only perpetuated the flaws rampant in the gaming industry.

quote: You just didn't listen

We did listen and we tried to get away from you screaming morons. Seriously, I've heard a 'omeless man fart that sounded more eloquent than you rabid PC acolytes and your militant dogma. You guys suck. You're the problem. You're preventing any feedback from getting through to the developers and publishers because you're screaming obscenities and hurling feces all the goddamn time. Knock it off and maybe we might actually develop lines of communication.

quote: and you're going to bitch that it doesn't have the hardware you think it should

We've had far more than enough hardware for amazing, awesome, incredibly satisfying games since the Super Nintendo, and that thing packed a whopping FOUR goddamn megahertz in its proc. What's up with you gear wankers thinking the solution to everything is MORE GEAR? Don't get me wrong, I think fancy graphics and eye candy are super-neat. But the '90s taught us that mindlessly pursuing it at the expense of anything else harms an industry, its products, and its customers.

You are the problem, and you will continue to be the product until you learn how to knock off your brainless noise.

really? so you believe that EVERY game ever released for PC should be a hit...and that when daikatana's happen...that's somehow proof that "PC gaming sucks"?

do you know how long starcraft 2 was delayed? how about team fortress 2? do those "Suck"?

the truth is, you wouldn't have 1080p if the PC gamers hadn't pushed for better and better graphics. as evidenced by several trends in the market currently (including screen resolutions) without a "push" from videophiles, the industry stagnates.

oh, and for the record, the gaming industry DID listen. or at least one company has--Epic. alien swarm wasn't created out of thin air; it was birthed by the "make something unreal" contest. the ones who are preventing "feedback" from getting to game developers are people like you and your console cronies who keep shelling out $60 for a game that's identical to last-year's edition--only with a roster change or some pretty new shaders.

i agree that we've had enough hardware to support "gaming goodness" since the SNES. i'd say actually since the original famicom. the problem is, even though you say that--you and your ilk also bitch that the wii is "underpowered" and "lackluster" even though it has plenty of horsepower for what it was designed to do--provide quality gaming experiences.

so if "mindlessly pursuing graphics" at the expense of everything else is a BAD thing--then why bitch about the wii? why is virtually every console player i come across (ps3/360) constantly telling me that the wii sucks?

you can't have it both ways. the PC gamers and videophiles are what makes the tech world go round. we may not develop the tech, but we sure as heck are the ones whose dollars are bringing the cost down for everyone else. only the military does more. ;)

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